A letter from Nadia Ayoub in Ukraine
September 2012
O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of the children and infants you have ordained praises… Psalm 8:1, 2a
Dear Friends and Families,
I greet you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ from Karpatlja-Ukraine. I thank God for his steadfast love and care for us all. Thank you so much for thinking and writing to me. I love your messages. I think a lot about you all in the U.S.A. but I do not write so much. Thank you so much for your prayers, which are very helpful and a source of encouragement for every day.
As we celebrated Easter with the children they learned the Passion story and many songs saying that Jesus died and rose again to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. Also we had colored eggs. I continue to work with the children in the two settlements, but sometimes we have some misunderstanding with the owner of the house where we run the program, so we stop working for a while—but we keep in touch and we come back again, and the kids are overjoyed to have us back. For this reason I continue to look for a suitable place to have a Roma center in Peterfolvo so we can work with the children all the time. There were three possible houses but the owners will not sell them for a Roma project. I pray for mutual understanding between the Roma and the non-Roma people and that each will make room for the other in their community.
Summer is about to be over, although my helpers and I did not have much of a break. We were working during the summer to make up for the wintertime when we are not able to go to work because of the snow and icy roads. And during the summer we were working with three groups of people—the preschoolers, the school kids, and their parents. We had some fun; we took some of the children to a one-day Christian camp, which they liked very much. We will try to take more groups another time before it gets too cold. That was something for which to give thanks to the Lord because the Roma people trusted us and let their children go far away without supervision from the parents.
Yesterday, August 25, was the celebration of Family Day. It is a Reformed church celebration, and it was held in Peterfolvo. It was very big and great, very organized and very Christian-oriented too. It was good to see that a few Roma people came to the celebration.
My mother’s health deteriorated this past month and on September 10, she went to be with her lord Jesus Christ. My sister from Egypt was able to visit Mom after more than 10 years that she had not seen her, and for that we are grateful. We are thankful for the love of God in both life and death. I was able to visit mom in May while she was still good and I was hoping to visit her again in this month. I was not able to travel to the States for the funeral. But thank God through telephone and Skype I felt as I was there. I also greatly appreciate the act of Elizabeth Presbytery, because three members went to the funeral to represent me and that is fare excellent, not one person but three and this is not strange for God’s love for us, God gives us more than we ask or think, to God be the glory. (Ephesians 3:20, 21)
I am also very grateful for messages of comfort from PCUSA,WM office and many Pastors and friends from Elizabeth Presbytery.
Prayer praises and requests
- Thank God because we completed one year working in Peterfolvo
- Thank God for the children and their ability to learn so many Bible verses and songs that resound all day in their walking and talking and playing together
- Thank God for trust between the Roma families and me
- We ask God to lead us with the partner church to find a good place to have the Roma Center
- God's protection for all the children in the coming year
- I need more helpers; I hope to train two Roma young women
- Please pray my family and myself as we grieve the loss of my mother.
- Pray for God’s help and encouragement for me to speak the Hungarian language
Again thank you for your partnership with me in God’s work among the Roma people and I pray many blessings to you all.
In Christ
Nadia
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 284
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